Media Contact: Genevieve Antaky 510/482-3553, [email protected] Public Info: Humanities West www.humanitieswest.org Tickets: City Box Office 415/392-4400, www.cityboxoffice.com HUMANITIES WEST PRESENTS Paris: American Expatriate Genius Friday & Saturday, October 19 & 20, 2012 Marines’ Memorial Theatre, San Francisco Humanities West presents Paris: American Expatriate Genius, a two-day program of lectures, discussions, and performances celebrating the exhilaration of Paris in the 1920’s and ’30’s and the remarkable creativity of American artists that were drawn to live and work among the European avant-garde of the time. The program takes place on Friday, October 19, from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm and Saturday, October 20, from 10 am to 4 pm, at the Marines’ Memorial Theatre, 609 Sutter Street, in San Francisco. Tickets for Paris: American Expatriate Genius are priced as follows: Single tickets for the Friday program are $50 orchestra and $35 balcony; single tickets for the Saturday program are $75 orchestra and $45 balcony, single tickets for both days are $115 orchestra and $65 balcony. Special Student/Teacher tickets are available at $20 balcony for single day admission. Order direct from City Box Office at 415/392-4400 or www.cityboxoffice.com. A limited number of free tickets for students age 25 and under are available; contact [email protected]. Season subscription tickets are also still available until September 15 and offer a significant savings. Season subscription tickets, including three two-day programs in the 2012-13 Season and a special Sunday afternoon program, Is Piracy the Second Oldest Profession? (September 16, 2012); Paris: American Expatriate Genius (October 19 & 20, 2012); Charles II: Phoenix of Restoration London (February 22 & 23, 2013) and Bernini’s Rome: Art & Architecture of the Baroque (April 26 & 27, 2013), are $275 orchestra and $165 balcony. A Fridays-only subscription series is $130 orchestra and $80 balcony, and a Saturdays-only series is $200 orchestra and $115 balcony. Order direct from City Box Office at 415/392-4400 or www.cityboxoffice.com. For more information call Humanities West at 415/391-9700 or check the website for complete program descriptions and related programs at: www.humanitieswest.org. Paris: American Expatriate Genius brings together a panel of noted scholars and performers to explore the exhilaration of Paris in the 1920’s and ‘30’s and the pool of talented American artists that crossed national, cultural, and artistic boundaries to create innovative modern forms of their art. Postwar Paris, with its tolerant and cosmopolitan atmosphere (and its low cost of living) attracted a startling number of America’s cultural icons to live and work among the European avant-garde in a moveable feast of creativity. This two-day program will explore —what Gertrude Stein referred to as— “the lost generation” —the American artistic geniuses that exuberantly and profoundly influenced literature, art, filmmaking, music, dance and theatre, reshaping 20th-century American and European culture. On Friday evening, Donald W. Faulkner (Director, NY State Writers Institute) provides the opening lecture on Paris and the Making of the Modern in the Arts. Paris in the early 20th-century was a receptive and influencing ground for energy, innovation, and the cross-fertilization of ideas. Professor Faulkner describes the city’s vibrant culture, and the people, especially from America, who came there to change the world of art and in the process changed themselves. A musical performance, introduced by Luciano Chessa (SF Conservatory of Music), Virgil Thomson's Portraits and Influences, follows. Chessa performs some of Thomson's chamber scores for piano, as well as music that influenced Thomson (Erik Satie's Le Piège de Méduse) and music that Thomson influenced (Chessa's Saint Teresa I's Aria from A Heavenly Act). With Heidi Moss (soprano) and Benjamin Kreith (violin). On Saturday, Wanda M. Corn (Art History, Stanford) presents a lecture, "America is my country and Paris is my hometown." Gertrude Stein: Transatlantic Artist, Mentor, and Muse, focusing on Stein’s rise to prominence in Paris and on her American admirers and protégés, including Marsden Hartley, Charles Demuth, Carl Van Vechten, and Virgil Thomson. Deborah Loft (Art History, Marin College) follows with a presentation, “Becoming a Modern Artist”: The Paris Angle, exploring the challenge American expatriate artists experienced in maintaining their identities as individuals and Americans, while exploring a profusion of new artistic possibilities in post-war Paris. The work of such artists as Man Ray, Loïs Mailou Jones, and Isamu Noguchi, among others, will be discussed. The program includes a salon performance of Paris Portraits. Laura Sheppard (actress) brings to life the voice of Harriet Lane Levy, a popular San Francisco culture and drama critic for the literary journal The Wave and later for The Call. In 1907 she moved to Paris with Alice B. Toklas. In her sparkling Paris Portraits: Stories of Picasso, Matisse, Gertrude Stein, and Their Circle, Levy tells of her initiation into the Parisian lifestyle and salons of the Steins, the rivalry between Picasso and Matisse, wild nights in Montmartre, and her own discoveries as a single woman abroad. This performance is directed and designed by Suzanne Stassevich. Pianist Karen Rosenak provides accompaniment, playing the music of Erik Satie and other composers of that era. Tyler Stovall (History, UC Berkeley) continues with a talk, At Home Far Away: African Americans in Paris. Dean Stovall considers the history of black American expatriates in Paris, focusing on the 1920s and 1930s, with the arrival of jazz in Paris and the establishment of a community of black performers in Montmartre, paying particular attention to Josephine Baker and Bricktop. The program closes with a presentation by Donald W. Faulkner (Director, NY State Writers Institute), A Literary Revolution: The Expatriate Press in Paris, describing how the small presses of Paris provided an opportunity for publication that American writers did not have in their own country. Professor Faulkner profiles writers Hemingway, Stein, Eliot, Pound, and Henry Miller; and publishers like Nancy Cunard and The Hours Press, Caresse and Harry Crosby and The Black Sun Press, Sylvia Beach and others -- to demonstrate the influence of Paris’s small publishing companies on American literature in the twentieth century. A panel discussion with all the presenters will follow, addressing questions from the audience. *Ancillary programs providing opportunities to learn more about the featured topic and related issues complement this two-day event. For a complete program schedule and additional information about the presenters please visit www.humanitieswest.org **** Humanities West, a non-profit serving the Bay Area since 1983, is devoted to exploring history to celebrate the mind and the arts. The only independent non-profit offering humanities and arts programs of this scale, Humanities West presents a diverse series of lectures and performances encompassing fine and performing arts, social history, music, politics, and philosophy of the arts. These multidisciplinary programs are designed to entertain and educate audiences and to illuminate and elevate the human spirit through exploration of the many sources of modern culture. **** CALENDAR LISTING: EVENTS/LECTURES/ARTS & CULTURE WHAT: Paris: American Expatriate Genius Humanities West presents Paris: American Expatriate Genius, a two-day program of lectures, discussions, and performances celebrating the exhilaration of Paris in the 1920’s and ’30’s and the remarkable creativity of American artists that were drawn to live and work among the European avant-garde of the time. Speakers include Donald W. Faulkner (NY State Writers Institute), Luciano Chessa (SF Conservatory of Music), Wanda M. Corn (Stanford), Deborah Loft (Marin College) and Tyler Stovall (UC Berkeley). Musical performance by Luciano Chessa (piano) accompanied by Heidi Moss (soprano) and Benjamin Kreith (violin). Theatrical performance by actress Laura Sheppard with musical accompaniment by Karen Rosenak (piano). WHEN: 7:30pm to 9:30pm, Friday, October 19, 2012 10am to 12noon and 1:30pm to 4pm, Saturday, October 20, 2012 WHERE: Marines’ Memorial Theatre 609 Sutter Street, San Francisco TICKETS: $20 - $75 Tickets are available through City Box Office at 415-392-4400 or online at www.cityboxoffice.com Group tickets: [email protected] Free Tickets for students 25 years old and younger: [email protected] PUBLIC INFO: 415/391-9700 or www.humanitieswest.org **** *RELATED EVENTS for Paris: American Expatriate Genius Humanities West Book Discussion with Lynn Harris Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald Join a discussion about F. Scott Fitzgerald's intensely autobiographical account, set in France after WWI, of a caring man who disintegrates under the twin strains of his wife's derangement and a lifestyle that gnaws away at his sense of moral values. The discussion will be led by Lynn Harris. When: 5:30pm, Wednesday, September 12, 2012 Where: Board Room, Commonwealth Club of San Francisco 595 Market Street, SF, CA Cost: $5 RSVP: commonwealthclub.org Co-Sponsored by the Humanities Member-Led Forum Fireside Chat with George Hammond – Paris Expatriates Preview When: 6:30pm, Tuesday, October 9, 2012 Where: Orinda Library, 26 Orinda Way, Orinda, CA Cost: Free Lecture: Romaine Brooks: The Other Amazon with Kerrin Meis, Art Historian Romaine